How solemn is the reflection that each traveler to Zion
is commencing a new and untrodden path!
New events in his history will transpire;
new scenes in the panorama of life will unfold;
new phases of character will develop;
new temptations will assail;
new duties will devolve;
new trials will be experienced;
new sorrows will be felt;
new friendships will be formed
new mercies will be bestowed.

How truly may it be said of the pilgrim journeying
through the wilderness to his eternal home, as he
stands upon the threshold of this untried period of his
existence, pondering the unknown and uncertain future: "You
have not traveled this way before!"

Reader! if you are a believer in the Lord Jesus, you will
enter upon a new stage of your journey by a renewed
surrender of yourself to the Lord. You will make the cross
the starting-point of a fresh setting out in the
Heavenly race.

Oh, to begin the year with a broken heart for sin, beneath
the cross of Immanuel — looking through that cross to the
heart of a loving, forgiving Father!

Do not be anxious about the future — all that future God has
provided for:
"All my times are in Your hands."
"Casting all your cares upon Him, for He cares for
you."
"Cast your burden upon the Lord, and He shall sustain
you."

Let it be a year of more spiritual advance: "Speak
to the children of Israel that they go forward."
Forward in the path of duty;
forward in the path of suffering;
forward in the path of conflict;
forward in the path of labor; and
forward in the path to eternal rest and glory!

Soon will that rest be reached, and that glory
appear! This new year may be the jubilee year of your soul —
the year of your release. Oh spirit-stirring, ecstatic
thought — this year I may be in
Heaven!

~
~ ~ ~

What the Church needs today!

(E.M. Bounds)

"They all joined together constantly in prayer"
Acts 1:14

"They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching
and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer."
Acts 2:42

The church is looking for better methods — God is
looking for holier men.

What the Church needs today
is not more or better machinery, not new organizations or
more and novel methods — but men mighty in prayer.

The Holy Spirit does not flow through methods — but through
men.
He does not come on machinery — but on men.
He does not anoint plans — but men, men of prayer.

Prayer is our most formidable weapon, the thing which makes
all else we do efficient.
"The prayer meeting is the gauge of the Church's spiritual
condition. You may always test your church's prosperity —
by the number who assemble to pray!" Charles Spurgeon

"In Your presence is fullness of joy! At Your right hand are
pleasures forevermore!" Psalm 16:11

A million million — what must that be? The human mind cannot
grasp the meaning of such vast numbers — yet, when millions of millions of millions of
millions of years have passed over the heads
of Christ's saints in glory, this text will not be
exhausted!

No, more — not one jot or tittle of it will be exhausted —
and throughout eternity it will still be, "pleasures
forevermore!"

Ah, my brethren, this prize is worth winning! Eternal life
is worth having! And it shall be the portion of every true
believer!

"Come, you who are blessed by My
Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for
you since the creation of the world!" Matthew 25:34

"The good man brings good things
out of the good stored up in his heart — and the evil man
brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart.
For out of the overflow of his heart, his mouth speaks!"
Luke 6:45

If your religion does not sweeten your tongue — it has done
nothing for you.

If the doctor wants to know the state of your health, he
says, "Let me see your tongue!"

There is no better test of the health of the soul,
than to see what is on the tongue!
When it gets cankered with unkind words,
when it turns black with blasphemy,
when it is spotted with impurity —
there is something very bad inside the heart, you may be
quite sure of that!

Let your lips be a fountain from which all streams that flow
shall savor of grace and goodness.

"Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths —
but only what is helpful for building others up according to
their needs, that it may benefit those who listen."
Ephesians 4:29

"Nor should there be obscenity, foolish talk or coarse
joking, which are out of place — but rather thanksgiving."
Ephesians 5:4

"God is our refuge and strength,
an ever-present help in times of trouble." Psalm 46:1

He is our refuge — let us hide in Him.

He is our strength — let us array ourselves
with Him.

He is our help — let us lean upon Him.

He is our ever-present help — let us rest in
Him now.

~
~ ~ ~

"For
me to live is Christ!" Philippians 1:21

(Charles Spurgeon)

The believer did not always live to Christ. He began to do
so when God the Holy Spirit convinced him of sin, and when
by grace he was brought to see the dying Savior making a
propitiation for his guilt. From the moment of the new and
celestial birth, the man begins to live to Christ. Jesus is
to believers the one Pearl of great price, for whom we are
willing to part with all that we have. He has so completely
won our love, that it beats alone for Him; to His glory we
would live — and in defense of His gospel we would die; He
is the pattern of our life, and the model after which we
would sculpture our character.

Paul's words mean more than most men think; they imply that
the aim and end of his life was Christ — nay, his life
itself was Jesus. In the words of an ancient saint, he did
eat, and drink, and sleep eternal life. Jesus was his very
breath, the soul of his soul, the heart of his heart, the
life of his life.

Can you say, as a professing Christian, that you live up to
this idea? Can you honestly say that for you to live is
Christ?

Your business — are you doing it for Christ? Is it not done
for self-aggrandizement and for family advantage? Do you
ask, "Is that a mean reason?" For the Christian it is. He
professes to live for Christ; how can he live for another
object without committing a spiritual adultery?

Many there are who carry out this principle in some measure;
but who is there that dare say that he hath lived wholly for
Christ as the apostle did? Yet, this alone is the true life
of a Christian — its source, its sustenance, its fashion,
its end, all gathered up in one word — Christ Jesus.

Lord, accept me; I here present myself, praying to live only
in Thee and to Thee. Let me be as the bullock which stands
between the plough and the altar, to work or to be
sacrificed; and let my motto be, "Ready for either!"

Nathan replied, "The LORD has taken
away your sin. You are not going to die. But because by
doing this you have made the enemies of the LORD show utter
contempt, the son born to you will die." 2 Samuel 12:13-14David's
experience is very instructive to us. While
it teaches us that God can and will forgive us, if we repent
of our great and gross sins — yet it also teaches us that
sin is an evil and a bitter thing; and that, though the
guilt of it may be removed, the evil consequences
of it will cling to us and be a subject of sorrow to us —
until God shall wipe away all tears from our eyes!

Jesusis
the one great theme both of the Old Testament and
the New. The whole Bible is designed to testify of Christ, "The
Scriptures point to Me!" John 5:39

In Christ the Messiah, in Jesus the Savior,
in the Son of God the Redeemer — all the truths of
the Bible center.

To Him all the types and shadows point!

Of Him all the prophecies give witness!

All the glory of the Scriptures, from Genesis to Revelation
— culminates at the cross of Christ!

The Bible would be an inexplicable mystery apart from
Christ, who unfolds and explains it all.

He is the golden Key
which unlocks the divine treasury of Scriptural revelation!

Until He is seen, the Bible is, in a sense — a great
mystery. But when He is found, it is a glorious revelation.
Every mystery is opened,
every enigma is explained,
every discrepancy is harmonized, and
every truth and page, sentence and word — is quickened with
a life and glowing with a light flowing down from the throne
of the Eternal God.

Christ is the substance of the Gospel.
All its divine doctrines,
all its holy precepts,
all its gracious instructions,
all its precious promises,
all its glorious hopes —
meet, center, and fill up their entire compass in Jesus!

He is the Alpha and the Omega of the Bible — from the first
verse in Genesis, to the last verse in Revelation.

Oh, study the Scriptures of truth with a view of learning
Christ.

Do not study the Bible as a mere history.
Do not read it as a mere poem.
Do not search it as a book of science.
It is all that, but infinitely more. The Bible is the Book of Jesus!
It is a Revelation of Christ!

Christ is the golden thread which
runs through the whole!

Blessed Lord Jesus! I will read and study and dig into the
Scriptures, to find and learn more of You!
You, Immanuel, are the fragrance of this divine box
of precious ointment.
You are the beauteous gem sparkling in this divine
cabinet.
You are the Tree of life planted in the center of
this divine garden.
You are the Ocean whose stream quickens and
nourishes all who draw water out of this divine well of
salvation.
The Bible is all about You!

Let us always think of the Holy
Spirit with holy awe and reverence,
remembering that . . .
it is the Spirit who quickens us,
it is the Spirit who instructs us,
it is the Spirit who sanctifies us,
it is the Spirit who preserves us,
it is the Spirit who makes us fit to be
partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light!
So unto the ever-blessed Spirit be glory and honor and
praise, forever and ever!

If we are true Christians, we must not expect everything
smooth in our journey to Heaven. We must count it no strange
thing, if we have to endure sicknesses, losses,
bereavements, and disappointments, just like other men. Free
pardon and full forgiveness, grace along the way,
and glory at the end — all this our Savior has
promised to give. But He has never promised that we shall
have no affliction. He loves us
too well to promise that!

By affliction He teaches us many precious lessons which
without it we would never learn. By affliction He . . .
shows us our emptiness and weakness,
draws us to the throne of grace,
purifies our affections,
weans us from the world,
and makes us long for Heaven.

In the resurrection morning, we shall all say, "It is
good for me that I was afflicted." We shall thank God
for every storm.

That is, "The wicked shall certainly be turned into the
nethermost Hell!" Yes, they shall forcibly be turned
into the lowest and darkest place in Hell. God will, as
it were, with both hands thrust them into Hell — into
that prison of torment where divine justice eternally
detains them.

Certainly, the very place in
which the wicked shall lodge and be
tormented to all eternity, namely — Hell, the bottomless
pit, the dungeon of darkness, the lake of fire and
brimstone, the fiery furnace — will extremely aggravate
the dolefulness of their condition.

O sirs, were all the water in the sea ink, and every
blade of grass a pen — all would be too short to
delineate the nature of this dungeon, where all lost
souls must lodge forever!

Where is the man who, to gain a world, would lodge one
night in a room that is haunted with devils? Is it
nothing to dwell in Hell with them forever?

"Jesus, who rescues us from the coming wrath!" 1
Thessalonians 1:10. Oh, what infinite
cause have we to exalt our dear Lord Jesus, who by the
Hellish sorrows which He suffered for us, has freed us from
the dreadful bondage of sin, Satan, and wrath that we lay
under! Oh, prize that Jesus! Oh, exalt that Christ! Oh,
extol that Savior, who has saved you from that eternal
wrath!

"For God did not appoint us to suffer wrath but to receive
salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ." 1 Thessalonians
5:9

~
~ ~ ~

ETERNITY!

"Lord, you have been our dwelling place throughout all
generations. Before the mountains were born or You brought
forth the earth and the world, from everlasting to
everlasting You are God. You turn men back to dust, saying,
'Return to dust, O sons of men.' For a thousand years in
Your sight are like a day that has just gone by, or like a
watch in the night. You sweep men away in the sleep of
death; they are like the new grass of the morning — though
in the morning it springs up new, by evening it is dry and
withered. The length of our days is seventy years — or
eighty, if we have the strength; yet their span is but
trouble and sorrow, for they quickly pass, and we fly away!"
Psalm 90:1-6, 10

~ ~ ~ ~

A thousand years! This is a long stretch of time. How much
may be crowded into it — the rise and fall of empires, the
glory and obliteration of dynasties, the beginning and the
end of elaborate systems of human philosophy, and countless
events — all important to individuals, which elude the pens
of historians. Yet this period is to the Lord as nothing,
even as time already gone. If a thousand years are to God as
a single night-watch — then what must be the life-time of
the Eternal God! Charles Spurgeon

~ ~ ~ ~

Before the Eternal God, all the age of frail man is less
than one ticking of a clock! Charles Spurgeon

~ ~ ~ ~

O think a little, how inconsiderable a thing is the longest
life of man on earth — compared with an everlasting
duration! The psalmist tells us, "You have made my days as
an handbreadth, and my age — my life, my time on earth — is
as nothing to You" — nothing, as compared with God's
duration, which is without beginning or end! John
Shower

~ ~ ~ ~

This life, upon which everything depends — is very brief.
How solemn this is! In Scripture, time is compared
to . . .
a flower of the field;
a watch in the night;
a dream;
a vapor. William Jay

~ ~ ~ ~

How little a while we are to abide here on earth. After
death we must abide forever in eternal bliss — or in eternal
torments. We will either be with God in endless glory — or
in everlasting fire with the devil and his demons! John
Shower

~ ~ ~ ~

Eternity to the godly, is a day that has no sunset.
Eternity to the godless, is a night that has no
sunrise. Thomas Watson

~ ~ ~ ~

O God, stamp eternity on my eyeballs! Jonathan Edwards

~ ~ ~ ~
ETERNITY! O that the sinner would study this
word — methinks it would startle him out of his dead sleep!
O that the gracious soul would study it — methinks it would
revive him in his deepest agony! Richard Baxter

~ ~ ~ ~

The crosses and comforts of this present
time would not make such an impression upon us as they do —
if we did but believe the things of eternity as we ought. Matthew
Henry

~ ~ ~ ~

We must not forget that the issues of eternity, are settled
in time. Arthur Pink

~ ~ ~ ~

The great weight of eternity, hangs upon the small wire of
time! Thomas Brooks

~ ~ ~ ~

A mistake about your soul, is a mistake for eternity! J.C.
Ryle

~ ~ ~ ~

"So teach us to number our days aright, that we may gain a
heart of wisdom." Psalm 90:12

"Whoever loves money — never has money enough; whoever
loves wealth — is never satisfied with his income."
Ecclesiastes 5:10

He who is not contented with a little — will
never be satisfied with much. Money of itself,
cannot satisfy any desire of nature.

A circle cannot fill a triangle — and no more can the
whole world fill the heart of man. A man may as soon
fill a chest with grace — as a heart with wealth. The
soul of man may be busied about earthly things
— but it can never be filled nor satisfied with
earthly things. There is many a worldling who has enough
of the world to sink him — who will never have
enough of the world to satisfy him.

The more that money is increased — the more that
the love of money is increased; and
the more that the love of money is increased —
the more that the soul is unsatisfied.

It is only an infinite God, and an infinite good — which
can fill and satisfy the precious and immortal soul of
man.

The sum of all that the creatures amount to,
according to Solomon's reckoning, is vanity and vexation
of spirit. Vanity and vexation is the very quintessence
of the creature, and all that can possibly be extracted
out of it. Now if vanity can satisfy, or if vexation can
give contentment — if you can gather grapes of thorns,
or figs of thistles — then go on and dote upon the world
still, and be always enamored with a shadow of perishing
beauty.

Oramuzes the enchanter boasted that in his egg, all the
happiness in the world was included; but being broken,
there was nothing in it but wind and emptiness.

"When I surveyed all that my hands had done and what I had toiled to achieve, everything was meaningless, a chasing
after the wind; nothing
was gained under the sun!" Ecclesiastes 2:11

"I am the Good Shepherd. The Good
Shepherd lays down His life for the sheep. My sheep listen
to My voice; I know them, and they follow Me.I give them eternal life, and they
shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of My
hand!" John 10:11, 27-28

There is a day coming when all Christ's sheep shall pass
again under the hand of Him that counts them — and in that
day, not one of the whole redeemed flock shall be
missing!

As the long roll of God's ransomed family is called, it
shall be asked, "Is Little-Faith here?" And he
will answer to his name not at all in the trembling way in
which he used to speak when he was upon earth.

When it is asked, "Is Miss
Much-Afraid here?" she will reply, in
jubilant tones, "Glory be to God, I am here!"

No matter how weak and feeble you may be, if you are a child
of God — you shall certainly be there and the inheritance
shall assuredly be yours!

"For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither
angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor
any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything
else in all creation — will be able to separate us from the
love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord!" Romans
8:38-39

~
~ ~ ~

How would you judge the
lawfulness or unlawfulness of any pleasure?

(Susanna Wesley)

"All things are lawful
for me — but not all things are profitable.
All things are lawful for me — but I will not be mastered
by anything." 1 Corinthians 6:12

How
would you judge the lawfulness or unlawfulness of any
pleasure?

Use this rule:Whatever . . .
weakens your reason,
impairs the tenderness of your conscience,
obscures your sense of God,
takes off your relish for spiritual things —
that thing is sin to you, however innocent it may seem in
itself.

By this test you may detect evil, no matter how subtly or
how plausibly temptation may be presented to you.

"So whether you eat or
drink or whatever you do — do it all for the glory
of God." 1 Corinthians 10:31

"I am the Good Shepherd. The Good Shepherd gives His life for
the sheep!" John 10:11

I would like to die talking of this blessed doctrine of substitutionary
atonement and I intend, by divine grace, to live
proclaiming it, for it is the keystone of the Gospel! Jesus
Christ literally took upon Himself the transgression and
iniquity of His people, and was made a curse for
them, seeing that they had fallen under the wrath of God!
For them, He has taken away the penalty and the curse due to
sin.

The false doctrine of universal
redemption — that Christ died for the damned
in Hell and suffered the torment of those who afterwards are
tormented forever — seems to me to be detestable, subversive
of the whole Gospel, and destructive of the only pillar upon
which our hopes can be built!

Christ stood in the place of His elect — for them He
made a full atonement — for them He so suffered that not a
sin of theirs shall ever be laid at their door. As the
Father's love embraced them — so the death of His Son
reconciled them.

We hold most firmly the doctrine of particular
redemption — that Christ loved His Church, and gave
Himself for it.

The only limit of the atonement is in its design —
and that design was that Christ should give eternal life to
as many as the Father has given Him.

"Christ also loved the church, and gave Himself for
her!" Ephesians 5:25

If the eloquence of our prayers mattered to God,
then eloquence would be more valuable than grace — but it is
not so.

Some of us may be able to express ourselves very fluently
from the force of natural abilities — but it should always
be an anxious question to us, whether our prayer is a prayer
which God will receive.

We often pray best when we stammer and stutter — and we
often pray worst when words flow articulately one after
another! God is not moved by eloquent
prayers — they are but empty noise to
Him. He is only moved by sincere emotions which dwell in the
innermost heart.

For a man to bend his knees and utter the hypocritical
language of affection to God which he never feels in
his heart — is little short of blaspheming God! We must have
very light thoughts of God, when we try to deceive Him with
such prayers as these!

I often say my prayers
But do I ever pray?
And do the wishes of my heart
Go with the words I say?

I may as well kneel down
And worship gods of stone,
As offer to the living God
A prayer of words alone.

For words without the heart
The Lord will never hear;
Nor will He to those lips attend
Whose prayers are not sincere.John Burton, 1803-1877

"God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us — so that in
Him we might become the righteousness of God!" 2 Corinthians
5:21

What could be better than the divine plan of substitutionary
atonement? God must punish sin — He could not be God unless
He did. It is a necessity of His nature, that He should hate
sin with an infinite hatred, and must punish it!

Yet, as He had loved His people with an everlasting
love, how could He better show His love to them and His
hatred of sin — than by giving up His well-beloved Son to
die instead of them! This seems to me to be the most beautiful thing I ever heard
of — and it delights my soul to preach it!

"Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law, by becoming a
curse for us!" Galatians 3:13

"Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this
world — but be transformed by the renewing of your
mind." Romans 12:2

Someone was asking, the other day, how it was that
the church, nowadays, was not so separate from the
world as it used to be. One who heard the question suggested
that, possibly, the world had grown better; but another more
truly said that, probably, the church had grown worse.

There are some, in these apostate days, who think that the
church cannot do better than to come down to the world to
learn her ways, follow her maxims, and acquire her
"culture." In fact, the notion is that the world is to be
conquered by our conformity to it. This is as
contrary to Scripture as the light is to the darkness!

Brethren, beloved in the Lord, you may depend upon it that nothing worse can happen to a Church,
than to be conformed unto this world! Write "Ichabod!" upon
her walls, then — for the sentence of destruction has gone
out against her.

It will be an ill day for the church and the world when the
proposed amalgamation shall be complete, and the sons of God
and the daughters of men shall be as one — then shall
another deluge of wrath be ushered in!

"Therefore come out from them and be separate, says
the Lord. Touch no unclean thing, and I will receive you. I
will be a Father to you, and you will be My sons and
daughters, says the Lord Almighty." 2 Corinthians 6:17-18

"His delight is in the law of the Lord, and on His law he meditates day
and night!" Psalm 1:2

If I were to say, "Hands up,
everyone who has a Bible!" — everybody's
hands here would go up, as I suppose that nobody here is
without a Bible.

But if I were to ask, "How many here, as a habit and a
delight, meditate upon the Scriptures?" — I wonder
how many hands would be raised? Well, I will not ask you
that question, but let everybody ask it for himself and
judge himself concerning it in the sight of God.

Lord, give us a Bible reading, Bible loving people!

~
~ ~ ~

Westminster
Larger Catechism:

Question 165: WHAT is Baptism?Answer 165: Baptism is a sacrament of the New Testament,
wherein Christ hath ordained the washing with water in the
name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost,
to be a sign and seal . . .
of ingrafting into himself,
of remission of sins by his blood,
and regeneration by his Spirit;
of adoption, and
resurrection unto everlasting life; and whereby the parties baptized are solemnly admitted
into the visible church, and enter into an open and
professed engagement to be wholly and only the Lord's.

Question 166: Unto WHOM is Baptism to be administered?
Answer 166: Baptism is not to be administered to any that
are out of the visible church, and so strangers from the
covenant of promise, till they profess their faith in
Christ, and obedience to him, but infants
descending from parents, either both, or but one of them,
professing faith in Christ, and obedience to him, are in
that respect within the covenant, and to be
baptized.

Some tell us that in
baptism, by which they mean infant sprinkling as a
rule — they regenerate and make members of Christ, children
of God, and inheritors of the Kingdom of Heaven!

But those who are sprinkled as infants are
no better than other people! They grow up in just the same
way as others. The whole ceremony is useless and worse than
that, for it is clean contrary to the example and teaching
of the Lord Jesus Christ! No aqueous applications,
no outward ceremonies can ever affect the heart!

The fact is, baptismal regeneration
is a lie — a wicked invention of Popery, without the
slightest warrant in the Word of God! Not one has ever been
born-again in baptism, nor ever can be!

We are told that infants can be regenerated
by baptism — and we have seen these regenerated infants
develop into what, to our minds, was nothing more than
baptized heathen, washed to deeper stains!

I
was sprinkled when I was a child —
but I know that I was not thereby made a member of Christ, a
child of God and an inheritor of the Kingdom of Heaven! I
know that nothing of the kind took place in me — but that,
as soon as I could, I went into sin and continued in it!

I was not born-again, I
am sure, until I was about fifteen years of age, when the
Lord brought salvation to my soul through the regenerating
work of the Holy Spirit — and so I was enabled so trust in
Jesus as my Savior.

Read the New Testament
impartially — and you will always find that those who were baptized
were believers.

"You are altogether beautiful, my love — there is no flaw in you!"Song of Songs 4:7

Although a poor tried child of God may feel the force of his
inbred sin and have to continually struggle with it — and
though he may, from day to day, be conscious of his many
imperfections — yet before those eyes which see
everything, there is no flaw to be seen upon the believer in
Christ. I mean no flaw in this respect — that he can never
be condemned or punished for his sin. His sin is finally
and fully and forever pardoned!

Oh, what a glorious truth is this!

~
~ ~ ~

With
lowly reverence at the foot of the Cross

(Charles
Spurgeon)With
lowly reverence at the foot of the Cross, bow
down your soul and say, "My Lord, there is no difference
between me and the greatest reprobate — but
what Your grace has made! There is no difference between me
and lost souls in Hell — except what Your infinite
compassion has been pleased to make!"

God has never meant this world to be a
comfortable nest for us. If we try to make it
such for ourselves — He will plant thorns in it so
that we may be compelled to mount and find our soul's true
home somewhere else, in a higher and nobler sphere than this
poor world can give!

"Arise and depart, for this is not your rest; because it is
polluted!" Micah 2:10

"You keep track of all
my sorrows. You have collected all my tears
in Your bottle. You have recorded each one in Your book."
Psalm 56:8

Jehovah is deeply interested in the welfare of all His
people! He has . . .formed them for Himself,redeemed them by the blood of Immanuel, andnew created them by the energy of the
Comforter!

He is interested . . .
in all their needs,
in all their troubles,
in all their trials,
in all their persecutions,
in all their temptations,
in all their afflictions
and in their death!

Yes, there is nothing belonging to a believer, but what
Jehovah is concerned about:
from their tiny trifles of today — to their ponderous
concerns of eternity;
from their feeble flutterings of anxiousness — to the
redemption of their immortal soul!
All and everything that concerns them — their heavenly
Father is interested in, and concerned about!

O if the Lord's family did but believe this, that the minutest
thing that belongs to them, the least circumstance of their
lives, and everything connected with that circumstance, is a
matter of concern to Jehovah — how happy would they live, how cheerfully would they pass along
the 'journey of life' and commit all to the
keeping of their God!

The believer brings to the Lord his sins, trials, griefs,
and woes — and the Lord bestows His pardon, riches, relief,
and consolation!